One Tough Spasmodic Grandma Decides to Gig Gov. Perry for an Additional Eight Months Texas Comptroller and Gubernatorial Candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn officially filed to run for Governor as an independent today. Says Mrs. Strayhorn in her announcement speech:
"… the job of our elected officials in Austin is not to divide us with partisan politics, but to bring all Texans together to get things done. But in Austin these days, our Governor and many of our leaders seem more interested in scoring political points, pointing fingers and assigning blame than in fixing our problems."
Mrs. Strayhorn then goes on to assign blame to Governor Perry:
"Governor Perry may be doing the best he can, but after five years we have learned that he is not the strong leader we need to put Texas above politics. He has made the politics of division worse in Austin, not better. He is not the strong leader Texas needs to bring us together to fix our problems."
I think Mrs. Strayhorn would have a better shot at the Governor’s Mansion by running in the Republican primary. Gov. Perry could be vulnerable from the Right in the primary, which features very conservative Republican primary voters, because
- The school finance issue is not yet resolved (he may receive more blame for this than he deserves)
- The large increase in state spending last session (he may deserve some blame for this)
- This perceived coziness with various toll road special interests (he definitely deserves blame for this)
When the General Election rolls around, she’ll have to turn a few Dems, scrounge for non-Kinky independents and new voters, and siphon off lots of Republicans. This will be hard in a general election where lots of straight ticket voting can be expected.
Though running as an independent could also have some benefits. Mrs. Strayhorn garners an additional 8 months to drive up Mr. Perry’s negatives with attack ads. Plus, the school finance special session is expected this spring and must finish by the court-imposed June 1 deadline. If this special session bombs like the others, it would make a ripe target for the Tough Granny. Furthermore, as State Comptroller, she is in charge of reporting sales tax revenue collected and projecting future revenue. The opportunity exists to spin and manipulate these otherwise mundane reports for political advantage. Not that she’d be opportunistic or anything…..
What will be interesting is to see how this plays at White House press conferences, with Mrs. Strayhorn’s son and Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, having to field questions about the race with Bush ally Rick Perry. Just the distraction the White House needs during a contentious mid-term election cycle.
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21 Responses to “Independence Day”Search
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Ms. Strayhorn thinks shes’ going to run as another grayed hair rough old lady who tried to use that attitude to run against President George W. Bush.. and it didn’t work then and its not going to work now..!
I think people know who the insiders are.. and if you work for the state you see her name on every check you receive and know she is not some outsider who is going to clean up Austin. She has been in the middle of all the problems and never once came out to help on property taxes or talk about any of the surplus.. don’t think she will fool anybody.. !
so, she’ll come in third in November…
(Gov Dumba@$$ first, Kinky second, Granny third, and Dumb Bell fourth)
oops… note to self… don’t use an ampersand to replace the leeter A, or the forum makes quickie hypertext…. LOL
I wouldn’t vote for her even if she was the only one running. She’s a legend “only” in her own mind.
If you are a Democrat, this is good news. Not so good for Mr. Friedman as it will siphon needed signatures from his campaign to get on the ballot. It actually makes good sense for Mrs. Strayhorn. She didn’t stand a chance against Gov. Perry in the GOP primary, so this move will probably will at least give her a fighting chance in a general election. She’s way too much of a maverick for your typical GOP primary voter; especially so given that Gov. Perry has the party establishment firmly behind him, as well as all the special interest support that goes along with incumbency. If the Democrats run someone more credible than Mr. Bell, they might actually stand a chance in November. At the very least, Mrs. Strayhorn’s move will make the general election most exciting.
Carol Keeton Fill-in-the-Blank has been stabbing Perry in the back for the last two years, so this is no surprise. Wasn’t she the “genius” who calculated there would be no fall-off in sales tax revenue after the 9-11 attacks? And then we had some fairly sizeable budgetary shortfalls?
Spare me.
I don’t see this as a problem for Scott McClellan. Just reminding everyone that Rick Perry was Algore, Jr.’s head honcho in Texas in his 1988 run for the President should defuse any attempted innuendoes.
Al Williams
#3
Dang it Al I just emailed Michael Moore when I hit that. (Cheers)
(Sarge places his tounge firmly in cheek)
Yeah…but what about a Kinky Grandma ticket?
Might get the votes in Montrose and Austin…..
Sarge,
EEEEEEWWWWWWW!!! Barf out… gag me with a spoon.
All things considered, one has to wonder whether she thinks she can pull Republican votes from the past twenty-something years, and still pull Democrat votes from ancient history. What else makes sense? Why else would she file as an Independent?
There’s nothing surprising about her running for Gov; the only “interesting” thing is her abandoning any Party affiliation.
It’s somewhat sad to see someone reach the end of their political career, having to acknowledge that their only hope rests in disavowing all prior political connections.
And slim hope, at that.
I wish the conservatives had a candidate running this election. We have a ticket full of liberal democrats with different letters in parentheses.
Well, at least she’s identified herself as a RINO. That’s more than Darth Dewhurst has done. I wish Paul Bettencourt would run against Dewhurst as an independent. I think he could truly win that election.
When are we going to get some relief from the property taxes? We don’t need entertainment in these elections we need results.
luv2 - just curious what you personally have done to help? Have you joined CLOUT? Have you called, written, and emailed your legislators? Have you protested your taxes with the tools CLOUT gave you? Have you attended any rallies or gone to Austin on our trips? Have you contributed to Dan’s campaign or done any blockwalking for him? Let your actions speak as loudly as any candidate’s actions. That is the only way that the legislature is going to get the message.
I agree with Wino {as I casually sip on my Sterling Vintners Collection Merlot}.
Let’s send a message to Austin and vote for Kinky. What’s the downside? I don’t see one. The Gov has no real tax-and-spend power, and we have no real choices for Gov.
Let’s all do something kinky…
#16 Mike Smith
Hooooold on a minute there, pardner!
I never suggested voting for Kinky. Of the four of them, he’s definitely in my “lower half” list.
Kinky is NOT in this for anything but publicity and self-aggrandizement. Chris Bell is too far out for words.
But at least Perry and Carol TenNames have further political aspirations, so they would probably both at least make an ATTEMPT to govern sorta along the lines of what we want… when they think they have to.
Bell and Kinky? Nope. Their constituents are too liberal, and therefore their platforms and governance could very well be detrimental to all conservative causes.
Imagine the entire state house being able to say this year, “We would’ve lowered tax rates, but the governor didn’t call us back into session.”
At least Perry showed the state house for the (still) corrupt organization that it is.
Wino Spot on again!
#17, I was agreeing with your “We have a ticket full of liberal democrats with different letters in parentheses.” statement.
Then, I jumped into another paragraph to suggest we all do something kinky to express our frustration with the lack of any conservative running for Governor.
Besides, what’s wrong with running just for the publicity? He won’t have much of an agenda, which I consider to be an electable position. Who wants a State politician governing? Nothing good can come from that. I have numerous examples…. starting with my property assessment.
#19 Mike Smith
To my reading, you were saying you agreed with my position of prefering a vote for Kinky (I agree with Wino, vote for Kinky). That was the point I tried to address, and my reasons for why I wasn’t saying that.
I’m sorry there was a misunderstanding or two in this thread. I wasn’t trying to sound angry in my post.
It must be the way I write. I use declarative sentences to voice my opinions.
For all who read my posts: Unless I reference something else with a link or pointer, I’m ALWAYS writing my opinion. By the very fact that I’m writing it without citation, that makes it nothing more than my opinion.
The sky is blue. (That’s an opinion and nothing more.)
The second law of thermodynamics deals with entropy:
http://www.secondlaw.org (That’s a fact, or at least a supported opinion.)
C’mon Wino, just admit it… you’re a mean guy.
/ducks and covers after tongue-in-cheek flaming